The Mage in the Forest
by ShimmeringMage
Summary: Once a Sorcerer Nobody, Asta Stonefist has been restored to her human self. With Riku's help, she's out to find the person who tore her apart in the first place: her mother, an infamous Black Mage who assisted in the downfall of Ala Mhigo. Starts during the events of KHIII. Slight FFXIV/KH Crossover. Archer turned Thaumaturge from injury. RikuxOC, XigbarxOC.
1. Orichalcum

**Chapter 1: Orichalcum**

_Hello everyone! I've reinvented this story a million times, so I sincerely hope I have it right this time and don't trash it after the second chapter! If you enjoy, feel free to leave a review. :)_

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**LOADING…**

After two long years, Asta Stonefist gulped down her first breaths of being human, of being back in the forest she had called home.

She had been a Nobody for so long—feeling like a human, but in lacking in body and in some ways, mind.

The Organization XIII called her kind the Sorcerers. They resembled human mages that tucked their hand in their sleeves, as if exposing them would lead to unexpected yet powerful magic. She had no face, and Lord Xemnas was her commanding Nobody. Her role? To collect hearts, of course.

And now that she somehow had command of her own, a swell of emotions threw her onto hands and knees. As Asta submitted to them, her head bowed, she felt the tears on the rims of her eyes spilling onto the ground. Her chest burned with anger. The muscles in her arms fought against the fear gnawing at every sinew. The memories of her "death" overwhelmed her.

Perhaps someone stronger than her would not feel the way she did. Perhaps the high-level Nobodies like Saïx or Axel felt differently once regaining their Somebody-ness, their hearts. Maybe to them it was a disorientation, not like this.

Bile fought its way from the back of her throat, and Asta's gut instigated the affair. When her arms threatened to give out, Asta flung herself to the side to avoid the puddle of discarded fluids. Her back screamed when she landed on a thick, bumpy tree root, but she hardly cared. She just wanted it all to stop.

**LOADING…**

Night blanketed the Black Shroud. Fireflies twinkled overhead as she woke again in a pool of sweat. Her abdomen resisted the urge to help her up, sore from vomiting and the battle that led to her rebirth. Still, Asta crawled to her feet and leaned against the solid bark of the tree.

Her eyes fell onto the barren path of the forest leading to New Gridania, where most of the non-animal inhabitants led their lives in the Black Shroud. Those who lived in the forest either lived in quaint little villages or alone.

Asta clenched her chest as her heart ached, a new feeling after so long. Did her siblings meet the same fate that day? She imagined her brother and her sister, waiting as she returned from Thanalan, only for her to bring ruin with her…

She had to get them back. And if she could not get them back, then she would get _her_ back.

Their mother, Tarpeia.

It was all her fault, anyway. Asta had gone to look for Tarpeia after she disappeared a decade ago. Once Asta felt she was old enough and skilled enough with a bow, she set off for Thanalan to seek an audience with the Thaumaturge Guild secretly operating in the city-state's ossuary. She picked up a few Thaumaturge tricks along the way, but never found their mother. Upon return home, Tarpeia reappeared, if only to retrieve a black box with thirteen locks. Then, she attacked.

On the plus side, her time as a Sorcerer Nobody did not go to waste. She learned all sorts of spells from other Nobodies. It was as if her heart limited her learning—instead of parlor tricks, her array of magic abounded with variety. Perhaps it had enough variety that she could use a locate spell…

Asta clambered her way to the untouched cottage. With some thought and some magic, she unlocked the door and stumbled through.

In her mother's room was all the ingredients she needed, a mirror being the most important. Asta threw everything on the floor and quickly assembled the spell, chanting as she did. The mirror clouded before displaying her mother, albeit a blurry image of her. Wherever she was, however, did not look like home.

She was not in this world.

How did Tarpeia know about the outside worlds? Did the Black Box have anything to do with it?

Asta calculated the possibilities well into the morning, as she went into the garden. Long ago, Tarpeia enchanted it to continue growing so long as the area received enough rain. Even unattended, the vegetables on their vines never mingled, behaving like watched children even in their caretakers' absence.

As Asta picked out her breakfast, something caught her attention at the edge of her vision. She whipped her head in that direction. Nearly dropping the vegetables in her hands, she bolted to a stand.

"Riku," calling his name surprised her as much as it did him.

Her eyes scanned the boy she had watched storm The World That Never Was. He stood much taller, his hair shorter than she remembered. Riku radiated a calmer, more confident energy than the defeated staleness of before.

"How do you know my name?" Riku repeated his question. In a splinter of a second, his light eyes dropped to her feet then rose back to her face. "I don't think we've met."

Asta fought the urge to squirm under his gaze. They had met more times than he would ever know. This time, he did not stare at her with intent, his Keyblade not trained on destroying her and her fellow Nobodies.

Instead she looked anywhere but at him, trying to spin a quick story as to how she would know him. "I saw you a long time ago—with friends, and um, they called you by name."

Wrong answer. Riku's brows were close before, but now they knitted together completely.

Some of the truth was going to have to come out, it seems. She took a deep breath and added, "I-I saw you in, um, Traverse Town."

Geez, Traverse Town. That place vanished a long time ago. But Asta went with it anyway.

"My world vanished, and I ended up there. Of course, that was a long time ago, because now I'm…"

Asta looked around her. Woods, and more woods, once home but now completely foreign to her.

"I'm...home." She forced a smile in an attempt to be convincing.

"Traverse Town, huh?"

He stared at her for what felt like eons before finally acquiescing. He dropped his crossed arms and smiled. A pocket of air had been threatening to burst through Asta's chest. She let it go slowly.

"If this is your world, then maybe you can help me find something. I'm looking for Orichcalcum."

She found it last night on her person, but her Nobody tendency was to hold onto it until death or RTC—Return to Castle, the Organization called it. Though it was no longer the case, she felt it best to avoid telling him about it. Why?

Because he came to this world in search of Orichcalcum, which meant once he was finished, he would leave.

And Asta could leave with him.

And then she could find her mother.

"I know where to find it," Asta lied. "And I'll help you, if you help me with something afterward."

Riku's smile disappeared again. He frowned. "...Depends on what it is."

Asta waved her hand dismissively. "It's nothing serious! Just something small…"

"Well? What is it?"

Straightening to her full height, Asta deadpanned. "I'm looking for someone, and she's not in this world."

"Sorry, but I'll have to pass."

"What? I can't make it off this world myself!"

Riku shrugged. "I'm sorry…it's just…world order. You know how it is."

And she did. Yes, Nobodies went around collecting hearts, but they did so by destroying Heartless. Occasionally, the Dusk terrorized the natives, but typically orders were to avoid disturbing them at all costs. But Asta was no longer a Nobody, nor did she particularly care about world order right now.

Asta retorted, "You're really upholding the world order by discussing any of this with me."

"Um-uh…" Riku stammered. He turned away from her, a small blush spreading to his cheeks. She pressed him further.

"In fact, you asked me if I could even help you find Orichcalcum. Now you're disturbing natives—Traverse Town or no, that sounds like disturbing world order to me. You're using me to accomplish your objective."

"I-I'm not using you…"

"Yeah?" Asta bent down to grab her basket of vegetables, swinging it back and forth with a smirk. "Then good luck, _stranger_, on finding what you need!"

With that, she turned on her heel towards her cottage.

"Wait!"

She nearly had the door shut when Riku used his weight to keep the door from shutting. Normally, Asta's bow-wielding arms carried enough strength to either match or outdo him. The lack of sleep combined with her inattention to proper recovery, he easily held the door open enough for him to be close to her.

Really close to her.

She could smell him—a pepper and citrus-scented cologne blended with the light, earthy yet salty smell of his sweat. He must have realized by now that Asta, genetically blessed with Highlander genes, stood taller than him by an inch. Yet, he puffed out his chest and clenched his jaw, his eyes boring into hers. Was he trying some sort of mind control?

Asta fought the urge to laugh.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"Well for one," Asta replied, "I am taller than you."

He scoffed, folding his arms but keeping his booted foot in the threshold. "Yeah, that's hard to miss."

"Look, your fragile ego won't have to suffer me for long. If we find the Orichcalcum and you take me away from this world—"

"I can't—"

"You can," Asta assured her. "New deal: At least consider it after we find your Orichcalcum."

He stared up at her long and hard before nodding. "Fine. But it's not a yes."

"Great!" Asta opened the door wide, nearly causing Riku to fall in on her. He stumbled but caught himself on his next step in. She offered him a sheepish smile.

Dust covered most of the undisturbed things in the cottage. Only one door was open, leading to a room that, from where Riku stood, looked clean and in use. A mirror laid on the ground, surrounded by an herb-filled mortar, a tome, and a crystal on a chain.

She read his mind and said, "I recently came back from being abroad. I've been hunting bounties to earn some coin. Use the mirror and accompaniment to find the bounties."

Before beginning, Asta replaced the tome back on the bookshelf. She and Riku sat on opposite sides of the mirror, Asta shaking her hands as she did. Taking a deep breath, she flexed both palms and held them over the mirror.

The incantation bubbled from her lips, but the mirror stayed dormant. This did not happen before.

Asta frowned. Why couldn't she use magic now? She grumbled, knowing the answer: Sorcerer Nobodies had no reservoirs, humans did.

"Seems like you should pay more attention to recovery. Here," Riku handed her a potion, no, an ether. The liquid magic would refresh her source and make it easier for her to cast.

Uncorking the bottle, Asta sipped her first taste, a taste akin to fermented asparagus and orange juice together. Her face scrunched up in protest, but Asta continued, this time chugging it down without breathing.

She blanched. "Ugh, that was disgusting."

Riku shrugged. "Sorry."

Asta gagged on the aftertaste, holding her chest. "What even is that?"

"It was an ether!" He held his hands up in the air, as if in defense. "Some taste differently than others. Sorry it was a sour one."

"Sour is a kind word for it…moving along."

Waving a hand over the mirror, Asta mumbled the necessary words. The mirror glowed blue around the edges, signaling its awakening. Then, Asta placed an old map over the mirror and hung the crystal over it. The crystal dangled from its delicate chain, until the blue glow of the mirror began to pulse. The crystal halted to a stop, then darted for a southwestern direction over the map.

"Thal's…Respite…" Riku read the words above the landmark. "Is that near here?"

"I estimate it's a two hour walk," Asta replied, setting the crystal aside.

A two-hour trek in the woods brought them to a cave where the edge of the Black Shroud met the plains of Thanalan. Dedicated to a god, Thal's Respite held an ever-lit shrine with the god towering over pilgrims and dedicants alike. Also inside, in one of the many pots lining the chamber, were gifts given to Thal in tribute.

Asta went through pot after pot looking for the orichalcum, noting aloud how it was a strange gift. "Why give orichalcum when you could have given gil? I mean, gil is made of gold. If you're trying to bribe your way into good sorts in the afterlife, I'd have chosen gil—"

Before Riku could answer, they spotted another figure diverging from the shadows.

She gasped.

Before her stood the very reason of her servitude as a Nobody, the very person she loathed to love.

Her mother donned the robes of a black mage, but they still looked ill-fitting on her. Perhaps it was the darker energy she radiated, almost too bad for someone like a black mage or a thaumaturge. Like Asta, she was a Highlander, and stood taller than both her and Riku. Her wrists were bony, and her nails long like daggers. In her hand, a solid onyx rod with a ram's head on the top glowed purple.

"I've seen you before—" Riku grunted as Tarpeia cast an ice spell that hit him first in the knee, then spread along his limbs and his entire body. He glanced at Asta, hoping she could stop the spread, but it was too late. An ice coffin held Riku hostage.

Asta screamed, "What did you do?"

"Ugh, darling," Tarpeia drawled, rolling her eyes, "Three is a crowd. This way is far easier."

"I saw you in the mirror! You were somewhere else!"

Tarpeia scoffed and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "You didn't think I would allow myself to be tracked by a simple mirror location spell, did you? Silly child. Here I thought you were the cleverest of my three children, clearly I was wrong."

Water trickled down the side of the block encasing Riku. His body heat did warm the ice, but it was not enough. If Asta could not get to him fast enough, the ice would completely chill his body.

"I see you're helping a Keyblade warrior. Pathetic. Have you read their history? They always lose, either to each other or to the Darkness."

"Since you turned me into a Nobody, I saw and heard a lot. Seems this round of Keyblade warriors have been successful."

"I'm sure," Tarpeia retorted, "That's why this one needs help finding orichalcum, because his measly little Keyblade broke!"

Asta glanced at Riku as if to confirm the truth before turning back to Tarpeia. He did not meet her gaze, however. Self-preservation had him wriggling against his icy cage to heat the ice even more. Riku made small movements that took less energy and less oxygen, which was yet another problem. Would he die from hypothermia or run out of air first? Regardless, it was up to Asta. They could let Tarpeia have this orichalcum, and Asta would give her piece to him like she should have all along.

"No, no, no," Tarpeia shook her head, as if reading Asta's mind. She approached Asta, flexing her fingers in an enchantment that rooted the girl to her place. Tarpeia closed the space between them, much to Asta's chagrin.

Every muscle in Asta's lower body fought the enchantment, but her feet stayed glue to her spot. Nothing in her body could resist her mother's reaching into her inventory bag and pulling out another fragment of orichalcum.

"Would you look at that, boy," Her mother inspected the orichalcum in the air, turning it so the light caught it at different angles. "She must be my daughter…to hide such a precious thing from 'you."

Asta roared. "I hid it from him so I could get off this world and find you! You took my siblings away from me, all for that—that—"

Facing her palm towards Asta's face, Tarpeia slid her hand horizontally, closing the space between her fingertips as she did. Another spell, this one to shut her up.

"Don't spill my secrets, child. They're not yours to tell."

The girl screamed behind closed lips.

Tarpeia stepped away from Asta to examine the boy once more. Riku's eyes drooped a bit, his chest rising and falling quicker than normal as he fought to maintain air. The sight of him grew the grin on Tarpeia's face, like an artist admiring their work. She clasped her hands together in faux excitement.

"Well children," she started, "this has been fun. I appreciate your selfless giving of more orichalcum."

Tarpeia looked pointedly at Asta before turning away. "It's nice to know that after all these years, my children still think of me. But I must be going."

She lifted a hand but paused before initiating her incantation. A thought hit Tarpeia, and she weighed her options carefully before coming to a decision.

"Perhaps I've been too hard on you, Asta."

Asta stopped struggling against her invisible chains upon hearing the cold tone change in her mother's voice. It sounded like the old her, the gentler her who may have practice black magic but still had a heart.

"I know I've left you lonely," Tarpeia flipped her palms up towards the sky.

Black spotted the verdant grass beneath them. It skittered into shape, into Heartless.

With a leer, Tarpeia continued. "I should know better, as a mother, than repeat that mistake. Enjoy your new friends, my darling!"

There were more Heartless than Asta could count on two hands. The second Tarpeia disappeared through a black portal did the spells release on Riku and Asta. The girl scrambled for her bow, instantly nocking an arrow once in form.

She stood between the Heartless and a choking Riku, who had dipped his head back to open his airway. A blue mist of energy coated the arrowhead as she cast an aiming spell, hopefully to make up for her diminished skill. The first arrow hit its target, a Shadow, right between the eyes.

The declaration of war incited the other Shadows to attack, some of which launched themselves into the air. Asta's arms quickly drew and released the arrows as they did before, but they tired quicker than they used to. Still, she pressed on to give Riku enough time to recover.

On the next arrow she nocked, a sharp pain traveled from her wrist up to her bicep. Asta yelped and dropped the arrow.

Before becoming a Nobody, her mother had broken that arm and wrist. Now they rebelled against her in her time of need. Using magic as recklessly as she did before could result in depleting her reservoir.

She did not have time to think before a Shadow launched itself at her yet again. She held the bow at both ends to keep it at bay, but her arm protested all the same. Fighting through the pain proved more difficult as the milliseconds passed. She could not let go, though.

Asta felt a force rush to her side and, palm open, summoned a defense shield large enough to cover the two of them.

"Riku!"

He did not answer. Either he was angry with her or focused on ridding them of the Heartless. Or both.

Instead of nocking another arrow, Asta held the bow as if it was a staff. In her mind, she pictured the one she used while in apprenticeship at the Ossuary. The bow glowed, and within seconds, straightened into a long stick. The bow string curled into a small orb on the top of the staff.

Asta uttered a small prayer to the gods before casting. Then, she called lightning from the heavens to rain down on the Heartless.

The ground rumbled beneath their feet, and bright veins of light shot down from the clouds above, shocking and throwing the Heartless from wherever the lightning made contact.

Riku sidestepped an inbound Shadow before hitting it with a Fire spell. He spun around and cast a heavier fire spell towards the Shadows crowding in, causing them all to burn into nothingness. They all disappeared.

Or so they thought.

Beneath them, an even darker, bigger pool rippled. A scaly, tangled mess topped a larger, humanoid Heartless. One could see through the Darkside's abdomen, for a heart-shaped hole pierced the center.

Riku cursed under his breath before casting more spells. Asta remembered from her training the solution to her magic reserve concerns. There were Umbral and Astral spells. Using the Astral to deal damage then the Umbral to regenerate her reserves kept her from exhausting quickly. She started again with thunder to help weaken the creature.

Lightning crackled across the Darkside's slick, black skin. It did not succumb to electrocution as easily as the shadows did. Instead, it curled its fingers into a fist and aimed for the ground.

Riku yanked Asta by the forearm to avoid the Darkside's attack. She cried in both surprise and pain, for he grabbed her bad arm. In the action, she dropped her staff near ground zero of the Darkside's incoming punch. Asta shot Riku an ugly look.

Both made a move towards the staff, but Riku shoved Asta away before sliding into the target zone, snatching the weapon and flipping out of the Darkside's reach. He then threw the staff in her direction.

Gripping the staff above her other hand, Asta motioned in a complete circle, activating a barrier made from her own mana. The energy left her slightly breathless as it was a pretty large one, but necessary for her next stunt.

She imagined the same block of ice that held Riku prisoner before. With a deep breath, she pulled the energy from herself, from the ground beneath her, from whatever source she could take from, to pull the largest block of ice into existence and freeze the Darkside.

Fragments of ice shot up from the ground and coated its feet, working its way up to the torso. The Darkside swiped at the growing rock around it but could barely keep it off. It writhed against the sleeve with all its might, howling in frustration.

Her staff held high, Asta put every drop of her mana into the strongest Fire spell possible. The inferno swirled around the beast. It only made the Darkside squirm more, but still it could not break the ice. Fireballs launched from the ground and attacked the Darkside relentlessly.

It whined and cried, half-burning, half-freezing. Its jet-black skin burned a bright red until nothing was left but a charred circle on the center of the floor. It was gone, and Asta had defeated it successfully—Nobody or not.

She collapsed into a coughing fit on the ground. Starting a fire in an enclosed space was not the smartest idea, though it got the job done. Riku must have been holding his breath as he rushed over, unaffected, more concerned about the mage crumpled before a statue of her god.

At first his hands hovered above her shoulders, hesitant to touch her. But when he grasped her shoulders, it was gentle yet confident and strong. With low-lidded eyes, Asta glanced at him, and found the urgency in his eyes.

"Let's get out of here."

He put her arm around his shoulders and helped her out of the cave.

Outside, they regained enough breath to talk.

"Riku, I'm sorry I lied to you."

"I don't understand why you didn't just tell me you had it," he muttered, leaning against a boulder. All the concern in his face was replaced by frustration. "I really needed that orichalcum."

"And I can help you find more," Asta assured him. "I just…well, you see what she's like."

Riku's eyes widened as he did the math. "You wanted to find her."

"Yes—well, not here. The mirror showed her off this world. That's why I needed your help."

"You should've just been honest. But thanks anyway, I guess," Riku dropped his arms and started to walk towards the plains of Thanalan.

Scrambling from the grass, Asta ran after him. "Please! I promise I can find you more orichalcum!"

If he heard her, he ignored her anyway.

She wailed, "She destroyed my family! I was a Nobody in the Organization until I was restored! The Twelve only know what happened to my siblings when she did the same to them!"

Riku paused mid-step on the mentioning of Nobodies. He expected to turn and see a sobbing mess of a girl, bereft of everything she loved. Instead, he saw a girl with clenched fists, slouching to the side because she was exhausted but still hellbent on convincing him that she could help. The one tear streaming down her face was quickly swept away as Asta lifted her chin, almost in defiance to that pain and sadness she felt.

They both needed each other.

He sighed and looked at his boots, scuffing the rocks on the path. "You don't need to lie about anything. Okay?"

Wordlessly, Asta nodded.

"Okay. We'll look again tomorrow. But first, we need to rest."


	2. Exhaustion of Varying Degrees

**Chapter 2: Exhaustion of Varying Degrees**

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Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to get this out! I have been busy as of late. Hopefully, you can enjoy this chapter!

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**LOADING…**

Light streamed in through a crack in the curtains, a singular source of light throughout the cabin. Just as it had been before, when she was younger. And now…

Asta's skull pounded. Her tunic clung to her back, which hurt from leaning against the wall. Her legs flooded with relief when they unlocked from their frozen position. A book slipped from her lap with a soft thud, alerting the other body in the room.

She touched her temple with her fingertips and sighed. Asta had all forgotten about Riku and the reason he had spent the night on the cot.

Had she simply given him her orichalcum, he would be well on his way back to…wherever he was supposed to go. But she wanted adventure, and in more ways than one, she got it.

A wave of nausea hit her as she rose to a stand. The room started spinning around her. She caught herself against the wall.

What was happening to her? Asta wondered as she stared at her wavering hands. Was it because of how she expended her energy yesterday? She should have still recovered it regardless.

_Speaking of yesterday_. Riku told her last night that he would leave early to try his luck at the stalls, a marketplace for adventurers. She needed to meet him there.

Picturing the Black and Rosewood Stalls in her mind, Asta willed her body to give up enough energy to zap herself over there instead of walking. She muttered the magic words, eyes closed.

Yet, Asta was still in the cabin. She swore.

"I don't wanna walk, let's _go_!"

**LOADING…**

She willed herself again, and poof, she disappeared.

Finding Riku proved harder than anticipated in the stalls. The sea of adventurers flowed through the marketplace and he flowed with them. Anywhere else, Asta would have the advantage of height to help her find him; in Gridania where Elezen were common, she might as well be short like everyone else.

"Hey," A voice called from behind her. She whirled around and found Riku with his arms crossed.

She offered him a smile as greeting. "That looks says you haven't had any luck."

"Not in the least," he replied with his own smile, albeit a bitter one.

"Which stalls have you checked?"

Riku guided her through all the stalls on both the Black and Rosewood sides. Nearly every vendor said no, except for one at the far end. An elderly man with crazy, white hair rested in the corner of his stall, his chin tucked as he snored the morning away.

"Let me try this one." Asta said. As Riku was about to object, she twirled in the stall's direction.

As if he knew she was coming, the elderly man perked up.

As Asta drew nearer, she noticed the man was blind in one eye, the other trained on her every move. His worn robes suggested he was a conjurer, but the forgotten wizard's hat on the ground of the stall added that he may have been a retired one. Among his collection were indeed rare types of stones and materials gathered in his decades-spanning career. Hovering over mushrooms in a bowl on one end of the stall, her target slinked closer.

"Mushrooms from deep in the forest, milady," He said as he scooted the bowl closer to her. "But these have…special properties."

"What kind of special properties?" She asked, despite her lack of interest.

The elderly man shifted his beady eyes both ways before leaning in. His breath smelled of malt and slow decay. "The real deadly kind..."

"Um…I'm not in the market for that…"

"Of course not!" He answered. "But an old man like me finds them useful—even the most basic magic spells tire me, so this is an easy alternative when surrounded by ruffians. What brings you to the markets then, girl?"

"I'm looking for orichalcum. I see you have rare items, so you must be a finder of these things and know where some may lie."

The elderly man licked his lips, hopped to his feet and hobbled around his stall. His old hands swept things off the counters in search for something. Once he laid eyes on a scroll, his smile grew wider.

"Find your way to the plains of Thanalan, not far from Camp Drybone. There, you will use the map to find your rare material."

Gripping the opposite end of the scroll, Asta leaned in. "How do I know this map will truly help? How come you haven't gone for it yourself?"

He replied with a chuckle, "My bones are too old to be out in such heat!"

"Thank you for this…but I'm sure it does not come for free."

"It does not," he answered, "but I fear I owe your mother from several years ago."

Her head snapped back at him. "What? You know my mother?"

The elderly man nodded. "She saved my hide more than once. Some say she has become one with darkness, others believe she is hiding somewhere. I do not know the truth, but perhaps it is somewhere in the middle…and if you are able to find her, then I hope you remind her that I've paid my debts."

It took all of her to shake her from stupor. "W-well, thank you for this. I shall return soon."

With a quick spin of her heel, Asta nearly ran into Riku who trailed after her, and with questions.

"Your mother."

"Yeah," Asta stared at the ground, bewildered. "Your mom nearly tries to kill you one day and the next you have someone thanking you in her stead."

"I see what she's become." There was conviction in Riku's tone in one moment, and a sigh of frustration the next. Perhaps it was his own story that made him realize that things were not always as black-and-white as they seem. "I mean…"

She mumbled, "No, it's okay. She wasn't always this way, as today proves. One day we were kids playing in the woods and next my brother slaved away in the mines to keep food in our bellies. I left in search for her—even learned her craft—and the day she came back on her own…"

"You became a Nobody," Riku finished for her, which earned him an affirming nod.

When they returned to the cabin, Asta sat on the floor, shoved her books aside and spread the scroll out. Thanalan spanned the whole map. A symbol drawn in glittering ink marked the spot near Camp Drybone.

Riku must have noticed her rubbing her palms in circles on opposite ends of the map.

"What are you doing?"

Did Asta need to conserve her mana? Sure. Was she doing it? No, but it felt like a good cause—the spell she was casting on the map checked for invisible ink or anything that cannot be seen in its current state. The parchment under her left palm glowed as she revealed a message previously unseen.

_Find me underneath the shade of a tree_

_Where cactuars blossom and peistes crawl_

_Where my larger, commoner brothers huddle together_

_You will find me hidden with my brethren_

"Good work, Asta."

"Thanks," she said, hiding her clenched fists in the folds of her tunic.

No more magic. Please no more, her body screamed.

**LOADING…**

About midday, they made it to Camp Drybone, ate lunch, then headed onto the plains. They found the boulders, the trees, the cactuars. The sand peistes glared from a distance, to which Asta warned Riku not to turn his back on them, else they sneak up and kill the two of them. After some time, they still had not found anything.

Wiping the sweat from her brow, she took a deep breath. "I don't see anything."

"What's there to see," Riku replied, "The sun is _blinding_."

"Ugh…the cactuars, the peistes, rocks, trees…this is the spot."

Asta shuffled some rocks around with the toe of her boot.

"I don't get it. This is where he told us to go."

Riku drew closer to Asta, putting out a protective hand. Somewhere between calling to her and whispering was her name. "Asta…"

"What's wrong?"

"It's a trap—" Riku barely made out before the rope around his ankles tightened and yanked him from his feet.

"Riku—whoa!" Only one of Asta's ankles got caught in the rope. She curled into herself as she withdrew her dagger, hoping to sever the bonds.

Someone stomped on her wrist, forcing her to release the knife with a cry of pain.

"Nice try, refugee."

Squinting did little against the hot sun to see her assailant's face. All she knew was he was a Midlander, a scrawny one at that. She could take him if she tried. Three more Midlanders and a small Lalafell created a circle around the two of them.

"Hey, this one's a Midlander," another said aloud, referring to Riku.

"The Coliseum will take him, Highlander or not. Will probably take this tall beast of a woman too."

Asta snarled at them. They wanted a savage; she would give it to them. A blow to the jaw quickly silenced her, added to the collection of stars she had been seeing since they journeyed to the desert.

"Judging by the clothes, Gridanian," Another Midlander noted. "She's from _the _Ala Mhigo. Not from around here."

"Is that not even better?" The Lalafell asked. "I've heard the heat make the refugees wilder. Perhaps the forest makes her more docile. We could use that as a selling point."

"Either way. The Coliseum pays the quickest."

"But not always the highest!"

"Gentlemen! Our mission." The one that stomped on Asta's hand interrupted them. He gestured towards an inbound wagon, judging from the sounds of the wheels crunching against the gravel.

Asta writhed against her bindings, but it was no use. It took two Midlander captors to pick her up and toss her into the wagon. One crammed cloth into her mouth before she even realized it. She rolled over to face Riku, who had also been gagged.

Once in the wagon, she could see the main captor's face—a sharp, stubbled jawline and hungry blue eyes shielded from the sun by black, shaggy hair.

"It's hot," the main captor announced the obvious with a smirk. "It's be smart for you not to fight against the ropes. You might fight yourself into heat exhaustion, and I can't sell dead bodies."

It was muffled but the captors could only guess the curses flying from Asta's mouth. They laughed at her, a trapped rabbit.

"Keep that spirit, refugee!" The main captor chuckled. "Ul'dahns like that sort of thing."

Whatever spirit she had was waning. The ache in her legs from this morning grew into flames burning inside her muscles. A thousand needles stabbed at her back. Rolling onto her side was the only way to relieve her back pain at this point, even if it added to the burning muscle pain and exhaustion.

As much as she hated it, however, the traffickers were right. The heat of the Thanalan plains would kill them—and such flat earth left little places to hide. Riku's lack of action implied his agreement to idea of waiting until they were closer to their destination.

An hour had passed, and something hot and sharp pressed against the skin of Asta's wrist woke her from a light nap.

"Don't move," Riku warned her, just as the cart jumped over a rock bigger than a fist. The head trafficker swore at the Lalafell driving, who stammered over an apology. "We're close to the city."

He did not have to tell her twice. Each passing second, her body weighed triple what it did before. The odds that she would move at all were slim to none. Nevertheless, she appreciated the sudden limpness of the binds when Riku sliced through them. He must have grabbed the knife when no one was looking. Could not say she was surprised, for he had a reputation for being clever. More than once he outsmarted the Organization XIII, a few bandits were nothing in comparison.

The cart lurched to a stop once it was past the gates. The guards, corrupt as they were, did not blink at the two bodies bound in the cart when enough coin exchanged hands. One of the men hopped out of the front and rounded to the back. They were far from the Coliseum, so Asta wondered what he could possibly need.

It mattered little to Riku, because as soon as the man neared, he launched himself at the bandit. A boot to the face knocked the man out cold. The commotion startled everyone around them as Riku helped Asta out of the back. Murmurs of apprehension circled them, and soon the bandits did too.

The bandits lunged, Asta and Riku dodged them, making for the east side of town. Bandits screamed and guards barked the order. The hunt had been initiated.

"This way," urged Asta, yanking Riku in the right direction. The alleys were a maze to those who did not know them, but beneficial to those that did. Especially those being chased by a horde. They wove through buildings and streets, through people and carts until they could no longer see the city gate.

After a while, Ul'dah seemed foreign with her blurring vision. Asta swept the sweat from her brow before it could sting her eyes, but it felt like whatever she brushed away was instantly replaced with more sweat. The throngs of people walking about the streets added to her frustration, added to her feelings of suffocation.

"We have to move," Riku urged, scanning the buildings and alleys for traffickers or guards alike.

Asta shook her head once last time.

"Focus, Asta," she said aloud to herself, then started toward the Ossuary.

Each cobblestone ramping up towards the other side of the city added to the distortion she felt. The guards' screams rang in her ears—she found herself holding her ears shut with one shoulder and a hand as she used the other to shove past people. Riku said nothing as he followed her.

Her double vision revealed a wall at the last second. Her free hand slapped it open-palmed to avoid hitting it head on.

The world was spinning. Or was she?

Asta blinked away the sweat. Her hair clung to her neck and shoulders, the braid holding strands together now lost.

More calls for her head.

She yanked Riku into the alley with her and slumped against the wall. The force with which she pulled him nearly caused him to collide into her. He steadied himself by palming the wall on both sides of Asta's face. A knot instantly twisted in her stomach. Her cheeks burned in his proximity. Riku was so close. So very close.

Sweat mixed with his scent, something grassy and light. If she ever went blind…she would follow this scent anywhere.

Her body shook itself to snap her back into reality. The rhythmic sound of hopping metal armor as a few guards ran by made her freeze underneath Riku. Neither of them moved.

Asta wondered if any of the guards saw them and thought them lovers tucked away from the world to share a moment. She quickly shook the thought from her mind as the heat in her body became almost unbearable.

"Asta!" His voice, though quiet, edged on concern as she slid down the wall.

Wiping her forehead, she insisted she was fine. "It's the heat."

"We need to get to the Ossuary."

"It's that way," Asta answered, lifting her chin in its direction.

Riku closed the space between them again, this time by slipping one of Asta's arms around his shoulders and helping her walk to the Ossuary. It was a ten-minute walk filled with anxieties of being found and finding out what was wrong with Asta.

No doubt he could feel her body trembling as if she ran a marathon. Oh, the effects of overworking oneself both physically and aethereally.

As Asta slipped from Riku and made her way to the receptionist's desk, he stopped and stared at the tallest idol he had ever seen, only limited by the vaulted ceilings above.

The smell of cedar incense smoked the grey hall and seemed to serve two purposes: to perfume an otherwise death-scented place and to bring those not already crying to tears. Asta continued to towards the desk with tear-rimmed eyes.

"Greetings, Asta! It has been some time since we've seen you," The receptionist said cheerfully, giving her a sincere smile. "What brings you back?"

"I…" The sentence finished in her head, but not aloud.

_I am dying, I think_. _I took from the land…it asked for its aether back._

The doors separating the Ossuary from the outside world burst open. Guards streamed in, followed by the head guard. His eyes instantly found her in a sea of devotees. With an accusative finger, he ordered her arrest.

"Grab that damned refugee!"

Her hands flung down towards the floor. Ley lines circled her, ready for a battle to which she could not commit. They flickered underneath her before radiating a bright purple.

Asta's voice came hoarse. "I claim sanctuary! Sanctuary! Sanct…uary…"

Body growing heavy, she buckled under the exhaustion. With a fizzling sound, the ley lines disappeared as she hit the ground.


End file.
